Official registration for the 2024 Congressional App Challenge is now open. Established by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2013, this competition was designed to engage students’ creativity and encourage participation in computer science and coding. Middle and high school students nationwide will compete within their congressional district by creating and exhibiting their software application, or “app,” for mobile, tablet, or computer devices.
Students entering the competition must submit their app’s source code online by Thursday, October 24, 2024 and provide a YouTube or VIMEO video explaining their app and what they learned through this competition process.
Eligibility
The CAC is open to all middle and high school students in the Fourth District, or who are eligible to attend public school in the district. Students can compete as an individual or on a team of up to four students. At least two members on any team must meet these eligibility requirements. View a complete list of rules and additional information here. This program is intended to introduce students to software development, and thus does not necessarily require a coding background, just a readiness to learn.
Registration
To enter, the student must register on the App Challenge’s website. All entries must be original in concept, design and execution.
Resources
- Code.org
- 36 Resources To Help You Teach Kids Programming
- CodeAcademy.COM self-taught courses in HTML/CSS, Python, Ruby, and PHP
- MIT App Inventor tutorial to develop mobile apps on Android phones.
- Scratch a simple visual programming language
- Alice is used to create 3D animations
- Development Kits:
Judging Process
A panel of local judges will choose the district’s winner sometime in December. I will announce and recognize this year’s winner at a reception here in the district, and the winning app will also be displayed in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The winning app gets the following prizes:
- The winning app in each district will be featured on the House.gov website and the CongressionalAppChallenge.us website.
- The Program Administrator (the Internet Education Foundation) may distribute additional prizes equally to all participating Congressional Districts.
- Each district may provide prizes to district winners. A Member of Congress’ office may provide authorized gifts or awards of nominal value as part of the app competition. Gifts authorized by the Members of Congress’ Handbook include certificates, folders, and frames of a nominal value
Contact
Visit the CAC’s website for further information. For additional questions, please contact Shindler Auguste at (203) 333-6600 or Shindler.Auguste@mail.house.gov.